Farrowing-rail bracket



June 5 1923. 1,457,636

D. E. SHRAUGER FARROWING RAIL BRACKET Filed Feb. 6, 1923 Patented June 5, 1923 LINER DABIUS E. SHBAUGER, OF ATLANTIC, IOWA.

FARROWING-RAIL BRACKET.

Application filed February 6, 1923.

T 0 all whom it ma concern:

Be it known that I, DARIUS E. SHRAUGER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Atlantic, in the county of Cass and State of Iowa, have invented a certain new and useful Farrowing-Rail Bracket, of which the following is a specification.

There has been considerable loss of young pigs born in hog houses occasioned by the sow crowding the young pigs against a side wall of the hog house and crushing or suffocating them, and numerous attempts have been made to provide protective rails to extend out from the side of the hog house wall spaced above the floor far enough to permit young pigs to get under the rail and to prevent the sow from crushing the pigs against the side wall.

The object of my invention is to provide a bracket device to be attached to thecside wall of a hog house and to support a rail, which, in its normal condition, will project inwardly from the wall in a substantially horizontal position to prevent the sow from lying close to the wall and to give the young pigs an opportunity to escape being crushed or suffocated by moving through the space under the rail.

More specifically it is myobject to provide a farrowing rail of this character of simple, durable and inexpensive construct-ion that may be readily, quickly and easily fitted in position by unskilled workmen, and after it is fitted, it will be normally supported in position extended substantially horizontally inwardly from the hog house wall at a point spaced above the floor to protect the young pigs from the sow, and may also be permanently secured readily, easily and quickly to position folded fiat against the wall when not in use; and p Further in this connection it is my object to provide a device of this character in which, when the sow is rooting under the rail, the rail will readily and quickly be elevatedso that it will not furnish any opposition to the rooting activities of the sow, and will hence not be torn loose from its fastening by such rooting, but will immediately descend after being elevated and strike the sow upon the nose, so that after a few attempts of rooting the rooting operations will be discontinued and thereafter the device will remain in its normal position for use. 1

My invention consists in the construction,

Serial No. 617,225.

arrangement and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a side elevation of my improved farrowing rail device applied to the wall of a hog house above the floor.

Figure 2 shows a vertical, sectional view ofthesame. Figure 3 shows an enlarged detail, sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 2. 7

Figure 4 shows a side elevation of one of the supporting brackets in position for holding the rail flat against the wall; and- Figure 5 shows a front edge-view of the same with a pin inserted to lock the supporting bracket in said position.

- Referring to the accompanying drawings I have used the reference numeral 10 to indicate a hog house side wall, and 11 the floor thereof. The farrowing rail is indicated by the numeral 12 and preferably comprises a board of substantially the same lengthias the side wall to which it is to be applied.

For each rail there are two supporting brackets, and each bracket comprises two like bracket members each formed of a structural angle bar indicated by the numeral 13. These two members are placed together with two of the flat sides thereof in engagement, and these two sides are hingedly connected with each other by means of a rivet 14 so connected that the parts may freely move at said pivot point. The opposite sides of each" bracket' member are provided with screw openings 15 by which they may be secured respectively to a side wall and the farrowing rail.

Each bracket also comprises two support ing bars, both of which are of the same construction. Each is preferably made offla single piece of strap metal 16, one end of each is hinged to one of the bracket members at the end opposite from the pivot point 14 by means of a rivet 17, and the two adjacent ends of the supporting barsare hingedly connected together by the rivet 18. Both of these supporting bars are preferably bent, as clearly shown in Figure 5, so that I each bar has a part resting flat against the adjacent surface of the bracket member and a part inclined toward the other'brace member, and a part at the top, as shown in'Figure 5 to lie flat against the adjacent supporting bar member, and each of these supporting bar members is formed with an opening at 19 designed to receive a pin 20, by which the device may be locked in position with the rail parallel with the hog house wall.

In order to support the farrowing rail in position so that it maybe :treely elevatedat all times by a rooting movementof asow, I'have provided on each of the bracket .memhere 113 a lug 21 preferably formed by cutting and bending a portion otthe bar itself, and these lugs are so positioned with relation to the pivotal points of the supporting bars that when the tarrowing rail is in a substantially horizontal position, as shown in Figure '2, these supporting bars willstand in substantially the same position as shown in Figure 2. That is to say, out of a'lineim'ent with eachother, and in such position that the outer end of the farrowing rail maybe freely'elevatedat all timesand without causing the supporting bars to form a lock, such as would be the case it they were permitted'to assume a position in line with (each other or a position in which their hinged connection with each other was leeloW a line drawn through the upper and lower hinged points of the supporting-bars.

In practical usethe brackets are provided in pairs and one'is secured to the inner surface of'the hog house side wall adjacent to each end thereof, by screws or nails at a point spaced above the floor, then a board is provided of substantially the same lengthas the wall to which the brackets are secured, and of the'same width as onerofthe bracket members, and this board is then'secured by nails or screws to the bracket members :that are not connected to the wall, and when this has been done the'device is ready for :use.

I have found that without a rail of this character it frequently happens that young pigs are-crushed or smothered when the sow lies downclose-to one'of the side walls of a hog house, and that by providing a :rail of this character a hog cannot lie downso close to the side wall as to thus injure young pigs.

I have also found that if a rail of this character is permanently supported in position for use, it 'is practically impossible to support therail firmly'enough to prevent it from being torn loose by the sow during what might be termed rooting operations, and in this connection I have found by experiinent that a rail of this character may be made amply'strong enough to support the weight of a sow it she attempts to lie on it, and yet the same rail will be quickly torn iloose bythe sow during rooting operations. However, by means of my improved :rail I have fonndithat'the sow will root under the rail andraisedt, but that as soon as it is raised, it will immediately fall again and strike thesows snout, and after a very few operations of this character, the sow will thereafter stay away from the rail and not attempt to root under it; and hence at all times after it is installed the young pigs will have away of escape it the sow should attempt to crowd them against the side wall, and that the sow cannot lie down so close to the side wall as to crush or smother the young pigs.

claim asmy invention:

1. An improved farrowing rail bracket comprising two bracket members hinged torg'GizllBl at one end and two supporting-bars each hinged atone endto the end ottheadvjacent bracket member opposite the hinged jointzthereo'f and said supporting bars'being hinged together, and means for limiting .the movement of the ends of said supporting bars that are hinged together vso that they cannot reach a position in alinement with each other.

2. An improved farrowing rail device comprising in combination two brackets each formedofa piece ot'structural angle bar hinged together at one end, and two supporting bars each formed of a single piece Jot strap metal an'd each hinged at one end to one of the'bracket members and hinged together at their adjacentenda'each of the said bracket members being formed with :a lug so positionedias to limit .the movement of thesupporting-bars so that they cannot reach a position in alinement with each other, and a farrowing rail secured to one member of each bracket designed -to normally project inwardly itrom a side Wall above a floor.

3.1 m improved tarrowing rail device comprising in combination two brackets teach formed of a pieceof structural angle 'bar hinged together at one end, and two supporting bars each formed of a single ;piece of strap metaland-each hinged at one end to one of the bracket members .and

Lhingedtogether at their adjacent ends, each of the said bracket members being formed with a lug so positioned to limit the movement of the supporting bars so that they cannot reach a position in alincment with'each other, a farrowing rail secured to one memberofeach bracket designed tonormally project inwardly from a side wall above a door, said supporting'bars each being provided with openings designed to receive a pin,said openings being so arranged that when the farrowing rail ismoved to a substantially vertical position said openings will be in alinement, and a ,pin inserted therein to hold the farrowing rail in position parallel withzthe adjacent side wall,:tor the purposes stated.

Des Moines, Iowa, January 6, 1923.

DARIUS E. SHRAUGER. 

